Dealmaking Quarterly Statistics, Q1 2021

Biopharma merger and acquisition value for the first quarter of 2021 totaled $34.8bn from 39 transactions, a significant drop in both deal value and volume versus Q4’s $73.9bn from 49 deals. Note that just over half of the Q4 total was from AstraZeneca’ s definitive agreement to acquire public rare disease drug developer Alexion Pharmaceuticals for $39bn (set to close in Q3 2021); if we remove this outlier, the Q4 total dollar value is $34.9bn, more in line with the Q1 2021 aggregate. The top three transactions of Q1 were not by big pharma, but instead a variety of biopharma players (see Exhibit 1).

The largest M&A of the quarter was a definitive agreement by ICON plc (global provider of outsourced drug and device development and commercialization services) to acquire fellow public contract research organization (CRO), the US-headquartered PRA Health Sciences (provides outsourced clinical development and data solution services to the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries) in a 48% cash and 52% stock transaction valued at approximately $12bn. Founded in 1976, PRA had 2020 revenues of $3.2bn. The company serves biotechs and small‑ to mid‑sized pharmaceutical companies through its clinical research (services across clinical development programs) and data solutions (provides data, analytics, technology, and consulting services to the life sciences market) segments with a therapeutic expertise including oncology, immunology, central nervous system, inflammation, and infectious diseases